Show CLAIMS OVER IN NEVADA former U S senator wm M stewart tells how mineral ground Is monopolized recently judge murphy of the second judicial district ot nevada made an older denying a motion for a new trial in the case of samuel fox et al vs A D myers et al the dispute which led tb the of the sult arose oer the question of what constituted a begil of mining claims the judge used the following language which ought to be of in terest 10 every claim owner in nevada the united slates law and the law of the state of nevada deem it essential that before a valid location of a mining claim can be made the locator must have discovered a vein or lode within tho limits 0 the claim located ex united states senator william nt stewart who was instrumental in forming the United states mining laws as they stand loday in commenting on the loone methods that prevail in nevada is quoted as say ine the limit of a mining claim may be unless the miners make regulations the ejze of claims the maximum which is always taken Is 1500 feet in length by feet in width and includes 20 acres of ground the locators grabbers or whatever yon may call them take as a usual thing from to acres by staking 0 claim after claff they do not even look for a vein on which to predict a location their contempt for the united government and tha united states law is only equalled equal led by their repudiation of the laws of this stale the law of nevada a in harmony with the united states anaf lecog aises no rights in other persons than discoverers but makes further provisions as to staking aa work to perfect a location it declares that before the expiration of 00 days from the posting of such notice upon the claim the locator must sink a discovery shaft upon the claim located to the depth of at least 10 feet from the lowest part of the rim of such abaft at the surface or deeper if necessary to show by such work a lode deposit of mineral in place A cut or crosscut or tunnel which cuts the lode at a depth of 10 by six feet by 10 feet deep Is equivalent in size to a discovery shaft the shakers not only disregard tho laws of the state a the united states which requires the discovery of a lode within the limit of the claims located but avoid either a shaft or running a cut or any other work on the ledge as required by the statute but they sometimes appear to think it necessary to do some work on the claim not always because they generally rely on relocation after the 90 das expire where an attempt to do any work Is made they generally do it in some soft place where there is no possibility of finding a ledge and thus thousands of acres of mineral land are monopolized year after kejr the result is most disastrous american citizens are deprived of the right to occupy and prospect the minerals lands of the united states but this is not all when a new camp Is discovered people rush there with the desire to prospect it the ground Is staked they cannot prospect and leave the camp then becomes an old camp and is never prospected when I 1 first went to goldfield more than a year ago I 1 told my friends that that district would never be prospected they inquired I 1 replied here are four thousand men anxious to prospect they will go away and goldfield will become an old camp and never will be prospected at all anyone who will pass over the thousands of acres of mineral lands surrounding goldfield on which no work is being done can form some idea of what this wholesale defiance of the laws of the united states and the state means the same conditions exists in tono pah at bullfrog and in all the other new districts that are being opened up in this section ot the state it may be asked how is a man going to prospect it he can acquire no right prior to a discovery the law declares that the public mineral lands of the united states are free and open to exploration and occupation but confines the location which segregates the land from the public domain to a discovery the prospector can go upon the ground and explore and while he Is exploring his actual possession as an explorer will be protected by the courts but he cannot leave the land before he makes a discovery and rely on stakes and notices to hold it he has no constructive possession until he finds a vein but he may have actual possession while he is hunting for it |